They call him The Unicycle Guy.
Paul Abraham is famous for his one-wheeler. He commutes on it, entertains crowds with it and, for the past few years, travels cross-country on it to raise money for charity.
First thing Tuesday morning, the 25-year-old is leaving on his latest unicycle tour, peddling from Ottawa back to his hometown Toronto to raise money for the SickKids Foundation. He hopes to average around 80 kilometres a day down Highway 7 and then on to other secondary roads.
And how does one travel over 400 kilometres precariously balanced on a single wheel? “Very carefully,” he laughs.
Abraham has been riding unicycles for around 4 years, ever since a thief stole his regular bike. He figured hardly anyone would want to steal a unicycle because they are so hard to ride. Abraham compares peddling one to skiing without snow. “It’s a lot of fighting,” he explains. “A lot of arguing with physics and weight.”
Switching to one wheel is a strategy that’s worked… mostly. He did have one unicycle stolen from him in 2013.
But it’s the notoriety of being a unicycle rider, the uni-queness if you will, that makes it so ideal as a fund-raising vehicle. Seeing one coming down the road certainly turns heads. Abraham has raised thousands of dollars on various cross-country trips over the past few years.
For the Unicycle Guy it's a singular way to give back. Growing up in foster care, Abraham’s road has always been a little challenging, but it also taught him you don’t need much to make a difference in life.
In his case just a single wheel and the knowledge that, like that wheel, what goes around comes around.
You can follow Abraham's progress on his twitter account.
